Sunday, May 16, 2010

I told you so

From the Associated Press: College for all? Experts say not necessarily. I've written about this before (somewhere.) There is a 'newly' discovered disconnect in College determinism: get a college degree = have a better life. Not necessarily so.

Colleges want cheap money to effectively lower the price of their product; fatten their endowments and broaden their brand

Governments want to give away college to appear egalitarian; to tap dance around the expanding gap between rich and poor

Financial institutions want to suck from the tits of market manipulation and fees.

Parents, pushed by their peers, long for success for their child and don't pay attention to the cost:benefit ratio; a healthy dose of nostalgia may be added - but their college experience came before the 'bubble' (like the real estate bubble) when too much money chased too few real degrees and too few jobs.

Students want to dodge reality for as long as possible - who can blame them?

We all want to deny that hard work, curiosity, discipline, cleverness and the right parents are enough, (and necessary.)

If there was ever a time that a motivated student could manufacture his own education, network with leaders in the field and create a job that didn't exist ten years ago - today is the day.

And if there was ever a time when the lag between what could be taught from textbooks for thousand of dollars was less relevant than what can be delivered from a laptop for free - today is the day.